Meetings at the Ferndown Day Centre, Library Road, off Victoria Road
Ferndown BH22 9JP
at 7:30pm for
7.45pm until 10:00pm
usually on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month
Free parking behind the Day Centre
Subscription £6.00 per annum

The Club meets twice a month, usually one
evening of Members' displays plus an auction,
and one evening with a visitor.
Visits are made to other Clubs.
An Exchange Packet is circulated to Members.
The Club organises an Annual Fair in April
with Dealers and an Auction, and an interclub competition

A cold winter’s night, yet the ‘home-grown’ speaker drew a good philatelic crowd; his subject somewhat elusive for many members it would seem. This was again a superb display, made up principally of early 19th century material and extremely notable for its quality of write-up. The rich mixture of maps, commentary both written and verbal, covers, printed stationary, frankings, rates, late fees and official notices to postmasters, were just a flavour of the themes examined. Amongst the areas considered was Charles’ highly detailed study of the early development of Prussian/Russian postal services, in particular - rates, registered mail and postage dues. Around 1854 the first Russian stamps on cover appear and Club Members were much entertained by the inclusion of a number of such early examples. A considerable focus was expended on the far reaching Prussian/Russian Treaty and its postal implications. Following the first half where no less than 6 frames of 15 sheets were displayed, the evening moved to the equally expansive second half where ‘the mail between GB and Russia’ was studied in detail. Of particular interest was the fact that in the 1850s, mail took 8-10 days to travel GB/St Petersburg. By the 1870s the journey time had reduced to just 3 days and the rate was just 6d!!
Here again -a superb presentation organised by Hugh Jefferies whose mastery of the philatelic programme is hard to equal.

Thanks went to Charles from Chairman Bob Small who remarked ‘a delightful collection of Russian mail…thank you so much; we will not see a better one in a long, long time’.

Cover from Rotterdam to St Petersberg with red "3" credit from the Netherlands and blue "W1" credit from Prussia to Russia

1872 cover from Odessa to Genoa

Charles Leonard being thanked by Chairman, Bob Small

(paul barry)

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Monday 8 January 2018
6 in 2 - Islands - Members

Following the Chairman's New Year's Greetings, and a reminder to members what "6 in 2" and "9 in 4" meant, thirteen members put up displays on the theme of "Islands", covering an very wide interpretation of the subject, which drew long attention from the members at break time.

Chris Wheeler covered railway stamps from Union Island in the West Indies
Spence Coaker
showed covers and a postcard from Hong Kong's many islands
John Duckworth started with the One Pnny stamp from Malta, then covered many other events from Malta
Trevor displayed six definitive series including some errors from Fiji
Next was a display of Falklands Islands postal history, with covers from the period of hostilities
Bill showed covers postmarked from the many islands of the British Isles
John Garrett concentrated on covers, stationery and aerogrammmes from Papua New Guinea
Albert Jackson put up six sheets demonstrating the unique concession labels used by the air mail service in the Aegean in 1943
Rod concentrated on the islands around Ireland and some of the 'non-islands' there
Don Seaby also covered Malta, using GB stamps with the A25 cancellations, and subsequent ones from QV and KGVII
Hugh Jefferies treated us to one island country's stamps used in another island country, such as Tristan da Cunha used in Gough Island
Alan King put up some very interesting Channel Island war time occupation issues, explaining some of their hidden symbols
The evening closed with David's cover to Jersey from the Siege of Paris, and letters out of Jersey during the Occupation

1963 cover from Mui To, Lantau Island to Taipei

Postmaster General's deliberate error of "One Pnny", on cover

Philatelic cover from Gough Island, which helped finance the students tour there

This, the final meeting in the Club’s 2017 calendar, proved to be excellent in all respects. A cold night did not deter too many members and those who attended this evening of festive fellowship, were well rewarded. Carol ably assisted by Alan and Don again pulled out all the stops and provided wonderful Christmas cheer. Terry, sadly absent, was the author of much enjoyed topical philatelic quizzes, one of an amusing humorous nature, quite in the ‘Kirkman’ tradition!! The evening was well rounded off with a generous Club Raffle, which left a smile on the Treasurer’s face!! Ah well!!...another most enjoyable event in the Club calendar, and one which both Chairman Bob and the Membership present fully appreciated. ‘Thanks’.

One of the Christmas Quizzes

(Paul Barry)

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Monday 11 December, 2017
Three Sheets from Everybody

Usually the Club’s in-house entertainment is …’what it says on the tin’ and this meeting certainly kept up with tradition. 26 members took part, presenting interesting mini displays, covering a huge topic range. These included such themes as ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Postcards of air and rail accidents’, ‘Les Folies-Bergere ‘on stamps, ‘Portugese Postal Stationery Cards’, Western Australia’s ‘BlackSwan ‘ mid-range issues, covering colour variations, Elephants on Stamps with distribution stats and the GB Victorian Jubilee Issue, with the 1/- red/green on cover to Boston USA, a scarce and fine philatelic item. ‘Family Christmas Cards 1905-7’’ was a delightful addition. Completing the exhibits was the familiar seasonal contribution from the Club’s ‘Joker in Residence’ –Terry Kirkman, entitled ‘Christmas Crackers 2017’, whereby a carefully chosen selection of stamps were given humorous captions …a fitting finale!!

Terry Everett

Grenada definitives

John Davis

Family Christmas Cards from 1905 to 1907

Rod Greer

Modern Underpaid Labels from Northern Ireland to Eire and Eire to Northern Ireland

Dave Sadler

Military Postmarks on Egypt Covers, Ismailia Camp and Taxe Marks from 1945

Charles Leonard

Three covers from West Moors to a Mr Allen in Las Palmas, and Sao Paulo

Wendy Buckle

Alice in Wonderland on stamps

Geoff Bradford

Prisoner of War cards from USA to Italy, with Red Cross assistance

John Duckworth

Canada, including Nova Scotia, and advertising envelopes

Michael Mawdsley

Definitive issues from British Honduras, before independence

Chris Wheeler

Postcards of air and rail accidents

Brian Quist

Postcards of the Scouting Movement, including Baden Powell going to War

Denis Brown

Portugese Postal Stationery Cards

Carol Gregory

Seychelles Christmas Cards and stamps

Don Symon

Switzerland Pro Juvente stampson genuinely used covers

Graham Hibbs

Manet's last major work: "The Folies-Bergère", on stamps and the Radio Times cover

Brian Quist

Royal Army Service Corps, WWII Christmas Cards

Trevor Smyth

Complete stamp sheets of the American Flag and Presidents issues

Don Seaby

Postage Dues on mail to Tripoli

Hugh Jefferies

Definitive sets of the themed issues from the Falkland Island Dependencies

Mike Trickett

Early Finland definitve issues under different administrations and currencies

Harry Tabbeart

Wide range of Cancellations on the Roussel Reservoir issue from Switzerland

The Club was extremely honoured to welcome member John Davis FRPSL at the November meeting. Hotfoot from Autumn Stampex, John arrived with his superb exhibit- ‘The Tin Can Mail of Niuafo’ou Island’ a 128 A4/A3 sheet presentation where he had won a Large Gold Award. John provided background information, beginning with an understanding of Tonga/Fiji and Niuafo’ou in particular, with its international date-line status. This tiny island, one in a volcanic chain, with a previous population of 1,300 had a coconut only industry, but with no airstrip or harbour facilities, communications were difficult. Mail services in/out were achieved for some years in the early part of the last century by swimmers with sealed canisters, later via canoes, reaching out to occasional passing deep-water ships; Arthur Tindall being the inspiration of this unique postal service. Volcanic action has seen various population evacuations, the latest returning in 1958. The tin-can service continued until the construction of an airstrip and shipping facility in 1983. The evening’s display consisted of 142 sheets and made use of varied material…maps, stamps, postmarks, censor marks, covers, letters, postcards, photos and air-graphs, supported by an excellent section on the introduction of cruise ships, their covers and publicity. This indicated an on-going world-wide fascination with tin-can mail. A particular emphasis was placed on destination mail, both in/out of the island, with a number being unusual, unique or rare. This was a brilliantly researched study in its entirety, with a detailed plan, development and full bibliography, as seen in the hand-sheet provided, not to mention the high quality sheet construction and write-up.
Bob Small, wearing both a philatelic and Chairman’s hat stated in his great appreciations, doubtless shared by all- ‘some wonderful material…not surprised with the Large Gold Award, brilliant!!’

Front cover of the book telling the story of how the first coconut tree began in Niuafo'ou

Early 1911 postcard to Germany showing the very rugged coastline of the island

Cover from the SS Los Angeles from the island to California, via Guam and the Philippines

Cover from Granville, Australia to Niuafo'ou showing an image of the island

Very rare cover dated 11 August 1938 despatched by the cruise liner Maunganui

Statistics showing the mail count during the Golden Age of Tin Can Mail

The last Tin Can Mail cover, following the Evacuation Order, December 1946

Cocver with handwritten message by the Postmaster explaining that the hand cancellation stamp had been destroyed by the volcano

Tonga's first Tin Can Mail stamps

FDC of the resumption of the Tin Can (Canoe) Mail service in January 1962

Niuafo'ou's commemorative air mail service stamps

1940 cover sent to France via England, but returned as due to the War the England to France service was suspended

(paul barry)

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Monday 13 November, 2017 - 6 in 2 Thematic, The Sea

This evening of ‘home entertainment’ was again a most enjoyable event in a packed programme. Committee members had anticipated a poor auction, having seen a considerable downturn in consigned material in past months. This was not to be. A very sizeable quantity of lots were received, many of really worthwhile content. This auction proved most successful with a fair number of happy bidders, later grasping bags and boxes and staggering home in the damp and misty night!! Now to the earlier thematic input. A total of ten displays were shared, again with diverse themes. Gerald Scanlon produced a study of modern stamps on the subject of ‘The Royal Australian Navy’, which included a delightful mini-sheet depicting 10 different ships, issued in 2011. ‘Seaplanes’ followed the nautical theme. Here John Duckworth described a troubled long distance flight of a Dornier Do-x to South America in November, 1930, reaching Rio six months later. Chichester’s aviation exploits were also celebrated. 'Famous Liners’ was the topic pursued by Chris Wheeler. He considered famous ships via stamps and postcards, including ‘Titanic’, ‘Empress of Britain’ and ‘France’…to name a few. With his naval background, Spence Coaker was well placed to take on the theme ‘Over the Sea, On the Sea, Under the Sea’ making interesting use of stamps, postcards and covers. Old postcards were well used to promote Mike Trickett’s contribution on ‘Naval Images’, including Le Harve, Calais. ‘Paddle Steamers’ was well documented by John Garrett who via numerous postcards managed to convey a real sense of Bournemouth naval nostalgia. A superb sepia postcard of 1887 drew the eye…depicting a steamer at a landing stage at Lulworth. Charles Lennard considered ‘The Good Ship Arcadia’ with interesting supporting items – maps, postcards and covers. David Parsons was in good company with other holiday themed inputs with his ‘Sea-side Postcards’. These included sections on ‘Bathing Beauties’ and ‘A few Splashes from Jersey’. Don Seaby reminded Members of his extensive naval experiences. Using an all-postcard approach he referred to service on ‘HMS Tyne’ and ships in Portsmouth harbour. The final contribution came from Harry Tabbeart whose naval experiences based on lengthy service enabled him to provide another fascinating display. Via covers and ‘paquebot’ cancels a worthy glimpse was achieved of modern shipping. However one cover stood out; this depicted an illustrated cover… ‘25th Anniversary First Deck Landing Pure Jet Aircraft…HMS Ocean, 3rd Dec, 1945. ’ Now how early was that achievement?!
This ‘6 in 2’ input concluded a great first part to the evening!

Japanese cover to Australia from a ship in Tokyo Bay at the formal Surrender Meeting, on 2 September 1945

Cover flown from GB to South America, then to USA on the first Dornier X Flight from 1930 to 1931

A very rich feast awaited Members on this dark and cold October evening. Programme Secretary Hugh Jefferies had yet again secured the services of a first rate speaker, Richard Farman. Here was presented a very extensive and superbly written up collection of naval social history. Many items were unique and provided insights into the life and times of the period. Members came to appreciate that such postal history informs historians’ stock of knowledge, and as a source, it is a much valued tool. The photographs depicted here provide just a glimpse of extent, quality and rarity of exhibits. A number of Members are collectors of this philatelic area and were therefore highly impressed by material shown and content of discourse. Chairman Bob Small is most certainly part of this august group and in his summing up and vote of thanks he did not attempt to mask his sheer delight in the evening’s presentation.

The New HMS Ville de Paris

Letter written by seaman on board Bodicia, off Falmouth, with 1/8d postage, 4th January 1798

Sheerness Dockyard

Seaman's letter written to HMS Podargus at Sheerness, 15th March 1813, at concessionary rate

A Free letter to Kent from HMS Warrior of Texel during the Napoleonic Wars, 1813

Waterloo Subscription, with Free postage dated 19 June 1816

Letter written during the American War of Independence, 1779

POW letter to Cornwall from Givet in France, taking 203 days to deliver

One of Brian Hawkins' illustrated military covers, posted in Gatwick, 2002

(paul barry)

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Monday 9th October 2017
Postal Stationery, Cinderellas and 'Back of the Book' - Members

When the chairman asked who had brought along material, he was somewhat disappointed to see that only 4 people had responded. Maybe this could have been put down to the description in the programme which may have put some members off. Perhaps we need to explain what Cinderella and Back of the Book means in future.
However the 4 displays that followed certainly prompted intense interest.

First off the blocks was Geoff Hood with a most unusual display of postal stationery, but with a difference: the stamps on the stationery items had been cut out and mounted. Geoff insisted that he had not purposely vandalised these items! The embossed stamps were mainly produced for envelopes and consisted of 1d and 2p stamps.

In 1885 more values were introduced up to one shilling. Other examples came from the letterpress used for postcards where the rate for overseas was 1 ¼ d. Registered post provided more examples and finally newspapers wrappers produced the elongated stamps used to wrap round the paper.

John Duckworth followed with a broad look at the Jubilee Penny Post starting with an invitation to the Guildhall in London; stationery cards and special cancellations were all part of the celebrations, however there was always the fear of caricatures being produced and sure enough some of these were on display. At the end of the celebratory year even Christmas cards were introduced with all the proceeds going to the Rowland Hill Trust,

Don Seaby started off with some postal stationery of the Isle of Wight before concentrating on Cinderella material promoting the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movement. The display was not confined to stamps but also postcards issued by Bournemouth Stamp Auctions and Stanley Gibbons.

Bringing up the rear Hugh Jefferies produced 9 sheets of Indian Officials. The earliest ones were using East India Company stamps overprinted but subsequent issues were printed as Indian stamps. Unlike the British cancels on high values which were usually perfectly centred and clear, the high values on the Indian telegraphic officials left a lot to be desired.

A very active scene presented itself to the visitor on arrival, the hall full of dealers and buyers, the kitchen busy and when the time came for the awards for the Competition Entries to be presented there was a reasonable attendance to witness and congratulate the successful participants, though sadly few were actually there to receive their trophies and medals.

Paul Barry accepting awards on behalf of absent winners

Hampshire Philatelic Federation - Hampex - Competitions 2017 - Awards

Jan Kaluksi Trophy (best 32 sheet exhibit at the Show)

A Jackson, Ferndown & West Moors PS

Howard White Society Trophy

Ferndown & West Moors Philatelic Society

Howard White Individual Trophy

W Buckle, Ferndown & West Moors PS

Hampshire Sixteen Cup

P Mills, Winchester DPS

Postal History Salver

JH Jones, Southampton DPS

Presland Aerophilatelic Salver

A Jackson, Ferndown & West Moors PS

Hiscock Thematic Trophy

H Morgan, Chichester DPS

Open Philately Award

B Hague, Southampton PS

Hampshire Hog President's Trophy

n/a

Frank Pegley Thematic Trophy

n/a

(chris wheeler)

To see reports of meetings held from 2012 to September 2017 please....click here

Forthcoming Events

Monday 26th February - "Netherlands Pot-pourri" - Peter Hardie

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We welcome anyone to come and join us on the second and fourth Monday of the month at the ‘Day Centre' (behind Tesco).
Meetings start at 7:30pm for 7:45pm: